Navy Awards Columbia-Class Contract

The Navy has awarded a $95.5 million contract to General Dynamics Electric Boat, to continue work on the development of U.S. Columbia-class and British Dreadnought-class submarines. The contract entails procurement of 17 missile tubes, which will be incorporated in the vessels’ common missile compartments. Construction on the Columbia class, which would become the next-generation ballistic-missile submarine, is scheduled to start sometime in 2021. Electric Boat has held the contract — pegged at $1.85 billion over a five-year period — since December 2012.